Epic Photography Taken within the worlds of Video Games

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Where was the photo above taken? Some misty patch of evergreen forest? Could it be a publicity still from an upcoming sci-fi movie? If you recognized that it’s actually from Fallout 4, you might also presume it to be an official screenshot straight from Betheseda. You would then be surprised to learn it was actually shot, in-game, by a player with a highly artistic eye.

Many games are offering whole worlds for players to wander through, and as the realism of computer graphics improves in leaps and bounds, so too does the beauty of these new landscapes. Lighting and weather conditions are constantly in flux. Props and scenery can be rearranged. Practically any camera angle is possible. With all this to consider, it’s really no wonder that a kind of virtual photography–called “screen archery”–has developed amongst gamers.

Andrew Cull is a writer and director who’s also worked in (real world) still photography. He’s applied much of that same visual sensibility to screen archery and uses a new set of tools to find striking, beautiful moments in recent games. Below are some of the pieces from his gallery–taken from games like Assassin’s Creed Unity and Watchdogs–and he was generous enough to provide us with commentary on the craft behind each piece. Some of these shots took a tremendous amount of time and toil to set up.

Any other screen archers we should look for? Drop your recs in the talkback